Documents / FOIA release

FBI file: UFO, UFO Part 16

Federal Bureau of Investigation · 169 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This Federal Bureau of Investigation file section collects 1949 Army intelligence reports of unidentified aerial objects seen around Camp Hood, Texas, forwarded by the San Antonio office, which told the Director it was reviewing and destroying such reports unless they held FBI interest. It also has 1957 FBI liaison memoranda on a radar-tracked object near Montauk Point and Benton, Pennsylvania, judged unlikely to be a Soviet operation. The file also includes a civilian Flying Saucer Researchers release arguing that saucers probably come from Mars.

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

# Office Memorandum . UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

ro. : Mr. A. H. Belmont)

DATE: September 24, 1957

FROM : Mr. R. Roach

SUBJECT: UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT REPORTED ON SEPTEMBER 20, 1957; INTELLIGENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE = WATCH COMMITTEE

Reference is made to my memorandum of September 23, 1957, on the captioned matter which reflected an Intelligence Advisory Committee (IAC) evaluation of an Air Defense Command (ADC) report that radar stations at Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, and Benton, Pennsylvania, detected an unidentified object proceeding in a westward direction with an altitude of 50,000 feet and a speed of 2,000 knots (approximately 2,300 miles per hour) on September 20, 1957. The IAC intelligence evaluation of this report reflected that "It is highly improbable that a Soviet operation is responsible for the unidentified flying object reports of September 20, 1957."

Today, at an Executive Session of the IAC, General Millard Lewis, Director, Air Force Intelligence, advised that although the ADC has not completed its investigation of the evidence on this matter, there are continuing indications that the object detected was an atmospheric phenomenon. The radar pickups now reflect speed variations in the object's course, ranging from 1,500 miles per hour to 4,500 miles per hour. This latter speed is improbable according to U. S. scientific theory for any type flying object which this could conceivably be. General Lewis added that the present sun spots are associated with the peculiar radar activity throughout the globe and that this could have some cause for the captioned report.

Liaison will report further information on this matter as quickly as it is developed.

ACTION:

55SEP301957

EX-131

Cases discussed

About this file

FOIA release, from the fbi-vault collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 169 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.